The Wonders of Snow
by Glamek Stalker
Summary: The Meta-Breed find something in their hideout. Ebon's not happy. Shiv is really happy. Talon and the others are pleased. And well...all but Ebon want to recruit this creature into their "family". What wonders will come? Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

I finally succeed in writing a fic while hammered. So…eff if I know how good I did. Anyways….chapter seven of ICE is almost finished. Some of it got erased so its taking longer to finish but it's almost done. And this story here is basically about…the wonders of Snow. I don't know how many chapters it will consist of…review when you want more please. This story won't be very long. A few chapters I think. Yeah. Some implied H/T

Please review and let me know what you think.

I do not own Static Shock…dammit. Eff it all.

XXX

The Wonders of Snow

Chapter one

Crash!

XXX

The cold. It was practically unbearable.

Shiv pulled his covers tighter over his body, shivering and thinking that a subway station in the middle of winter was not the best place for a bang baby gang to be squatting at. For heaven's sake he was wearing a stolen winter jacket to bed. Either way, he couldn't argue. Where else were they going to go? A nice warm cozy condo? He didn't think that was very logical. No. Not at all. And so, as he watched his breath form in the air, Shiv wrapped himself up as best he could, debating on whether or not cozying up to Hotstreak would be a good idea. A few seconds of pondering and he decided against it. And he wasn't about to nudge the pyro awake to get him to warm up the room. No. If there was one thing you should never do to an aggressive hothead like Hotstreak, it was waking him up. But god, it was so cold…

A crash! Shiv jolted upright, surprised by the loud suddenness of metal clanging against metal. Another crash, and Shiv's eyes went wide. He quickly fixed his hands to oversized light energy blades and backed off of his worn mattress, nearly getting tangled in his before used covers. He scooted back on his knees, waiting for whatever was in the dark tunnel to show itself. Bang again followed by a howl. Shiv yelped, fell back, stumbled over Ferret ( Did you think I would write a fic with no Ferret in it? Lol) who grumbled in response, and crawled clumsily over to where Talon slept. Nudging her gently in the shoulder, he whispered for her to get up. "Talon," he hissed. "Talon wake up. Come on."

With an agitated moan Talon's head rose up to rest her blurred sleepy vision on the purple haired meta-human beside her. "What do you want?" she asked, tired and angry.

"Something's in the tunnel," his shivering voice exclaimed. He peered back towards the way the sound had come from and back to Talon, waiting for her to chase off whatever was coming for them.

"It's probably just the rats now go back to sleep." Following her own advice, she rolled over under the covers and groaned a "turn the heat up," to the body laying next to hers. The redheaded form though only went about his snoring, and unlike Shiv, slept lightly in just his jeans, tee and hoodie.

"Rats don't howl, Talon." But the feathered woman only ignored him and snuggled up further into the human heater. He heard it again. "Oh man." The scared to hell Shiv crawled in beside Talon, stuttering from fear. "There it is again!" He quickly shoved his face into her back and held onto her waist, hoping that maybe the thing in the dark wouldn't take him if he was holding onto her. It was quite a funny site though; a scared little boy hopping into bed with his mommy…

"Shiv get out of here," Talon growled, pushing Shiv away. But the blade wielder was persistent. "You're being ridiculous Shiv. Now stop it."

The metal banged again, and this time Talon heard it. She stalled in her attempts to rid her bed of Shiv and brought her eyes over to the dark subway tunnel. The only thing she could see was the train's silhouette, one of two rugged couches holding a bundled up Kangor, and a broken down vending machine. "Maybe its just another homeless person," she said, as if the homeless making their way into their abode was an every day accurance. Then the howl. She flinched and quickly turned to Hotstreak, shaking him awake.

Shiv didn't know what was scarier now. A howling monster in the dark, or a really tired and pissed off Hotstreak. "What?!" yelled the redhead, his gelled hair amok, skin smoking and green eyes blazing. Yup, a really tired and pissed off Hotstreak was the scariest thing to Shiv right now. "This better be good," he muttered.

"Hotstreak," Talon seemed not to be intimidated by the fiery teen. "There's something in the tunnels. Go check it out."

Hotstreak only groaned and rubbed his drooping eyes. "Get the hell out of my bed, asshole," he grunted, shoving Shiv off of the mattress and rolling over to sleep.

"No there's really something there," Shiv insisted. There was the howl again, though it was more of a whimper this time. Still, it was strange enough for Shiv.

"Its probably just rats," Hotstreak said.

"No it's not."

"Then there's a homeless person. Go get rid of it."

"But…" there was a the sound again, and all three heard now. Hotstreak sat up and rested on his hands, straining his ears for anything else.

"Maybe it's a really big rat," he said, quietly. He didn't want to draw whatever the thing was's attention to them anymore than they already had.

"Jesus, I'm trying to sleep over here," a groggy Ferret whimpered as he too sat up at the commotion. "What's going on."

Shiv still stared warily into the darkness and whispered to the other meta-human that something had found its way into the subway.

"For the love of…" the brunette muttered. "It's probably just rats."

"Would everyone stop telling me that its just rats!" Shiv was getting rather annoyed. "Its not freakin' rats. Jeeze. It's something else."

"Well," Hotstreak concluded, "Then go see what it is."

"I'm not gonna go see what it is, you go see what it is."

Talon rolled her eyes and Ferret sighed, pushing himself up to sit on his knees.

"Hey, I'm not going. You heard it first."

"You're the braver one though," Shiv whined and bounced on his knees.

"I'm trying to get to sleep. Ferret, you go see what it is."

Ferret grunted and then shrugged. "I don't know Hotstreak, I mean, it's dark, it's late, it's cold and I'm just content with curling up on my bed and…"

"You're gonna be content with my foot up your backside here in a minute. Now go check it out."

Ferret, not one to argue with such an aggressive case, simply mustered up the strength to stand and wondered why he and Kangor were even here in the first place. Zipping up his Jack Daniels Hoodie he grudgingly made his way to the subway train, the cold tile floor causing him to put his worn held-together-with-duct-tape shoes. But, he was tired and he just wanted to go back to bed. If putting up with Hotstreak's bull and Shiv's whining was going to get him back under those warm Mexican covers faster, then so be it. That is, until the loud howl came again. It was a lot closer this time. "Whoa, I'm not going any further," said Ferret. "Hell's no. Not without any backup."

"Don't be such a wuss," Hotstreak told him, sitting up to get a better view. He thought about how hilarious it would be if whatever was in the subway jumped out and attacked the defenseless Ferret. He smirked to himself, but was brought back to reality when Talon pushed him and Shiv to go help out Ferret. "Come on, he's fine."

"Just do it, ok? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can all get back to sleep."

Hotstreak sighed, stood up and after slipping his shoes on dragged Shiv with him over towards Ferret. Shiv was resistant at first, but after the hand on his arm started to heat up he could only give in. Not any less scared either. Upon reaching Ferret's point the three then set off together to search for the source of the noise. Talon hung back, letting the boys handle this little fiasco. Hey, maybe they'd all get butt whooped and she could finally be rid of the bickering bunch. That would teach them. No, she thought. That's a bad thought right there. She then shrugged, "Still..."

The three young meta-humans made it only about ten feet before a very irate Ebon popped out from the front of the train. The surprise caused Ferret to yell, Shiv to lash out with his eyes closed, and Hotstreak to bring fire to his hands. Luckily though, the yelling and the lashing and the fire didn't affect the meta-breed leader, though he was nearly surprised to death by the three of them..."Christ, gimme a heart attack," he murmured, holding his hand to his heart while in the other he held a metal bat, apparently to use on whatever was creeping about their subway station.

"Let us guess," Hotstreak said. "You heard it too?"

"Yeah, woke me right up. I think I got it cornered though?"

After three confused looks came his way he lead the group to the front of the train, kneeling down and gesturing them to do the same. Upon further inspection of the noise making creature, the group came to dub it, a dog. A small white puppy to be precise.

"Quick," Ferret said. "Shiv go get my Slim Jims."

"You have Slim Jims?" the other meta-human said, apalled. "And you didn't share any?"

"Would you just go get 'em. They're inside the mattress."

So, Shiv thought. That's where he's been stashing them. And so, he quickly went to retrieve said Slim Jims and handed an open one to Ferret. "Alright," he said and held the meat out towards the whimpering canine. He couldn't make out what the animal had been howling about; right now it was just whining. He decided not to worry about that now and just worry about getting the puppy out. "I could use some light down here," he muttered. Hotstreak remedied the situation with a fiery hand which only seemed to frighten the puppy more. It moved further away from Ferret's hand, not even bothering to go for the food.

"Maybe it's not hungry," Hotstreak said, pulling his hand away.

"It's hungry," Ferret assured him. "It's just too scared."

"I really don't give a damn," Ebon snarled. "Just get rid of it."

"Chill ok?" Ferret looked back at Ebon, obviously intimidated by the man's glare. "It's not easy." He looked over to Shiv who still had his energy blades out and called him over.

Leaning over the other Bang Baby, Shiv asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Can you make a lasso with your hands? Or something we could use to put around its neck."

Shiv nodded, grabbed the Slim Jim and knelt down with a light energy rope ready to put over the puppy's head. Of course, he had to make a trek shoving himself under the subway train so as to get closer to the whimpering creature. "Ow," he muttered as he hit his head on the underside of the train. "Dammit…" he scooted closer to the puppy, the light from the energy rope illuminating its body, but scaring it less than Hotstreak's fire. When he thought he was a good enough distance from the puppy, he held out the snack to attract it.

The puppy, still whimpering, was obviously hungry. After realizing the light energy wasn't going to hurt it, it tried to get to the tasty treat before it, licking its chops. Unsure of who these strangers were, the puppy was at a fork. Take the food, or run away and probably starve. Good thing for its young age, otherwise it might had just ran for the hills.

"There we go," the others heard Shiv say as he squeezed back out of the underside of the subway train. Both Ferret and Hotstreak were boggle eyed at the small white puffy thing that was puppy. The animal quickly scarffed up the treat in Shiv's hand and was begging for more, trying to lick at his face and then bark with its persistence.

"Dude how'd a puppy get down here?" Hotstreak questioned and pet it on the head, smirking as it licked at his fingers.

"Hey Talon!" Shiv screamed as he rushed over towards the female bang baby. "We got a puppy!"

"Oh no…" Ebon sighed.

"Oh my gosh she is sooooo cute!" Talon exclaimed and grabbed the little puffball from Shiv's arms and cuddled it. "Oh and she has those pretty blue eyes, oh my gosh." The puppy didn't seem at all fazed by being passed around and took joy in thanking these newfound friends with kisses and nibbles and nuzzles.

Finally, Kangor came to consciousness when Ebon shook his shoulder. "Wus goin on?" the tired Jamaican asked, rubbing his eyes. "What?"

"We got a puppy!" Shiv nearly busted Kangor's eardrums when he said this, holding the puppy up into his face and forcing Kangor to take little licks from it. Of course though, Kangor was not approving of such a behavior and asked, while pushing the animal away, what the hell had happened. While Ebon explained to his friend about the crashing heard earlier--which Kangor surprisingly slept through-- Talon, Ferret, and Shiv were all taking turns petting and cuddling the cute furball with all there might.

"Oh can we keep it Ebon?" Shiv begged, holding the puppy to his face, pouting with his lip up at his leader. "Can we, can we, can we?! We've never had a pet and Ferret's not much fun…"

"Hey," came Ferret's response.

"Oh please, please, please, please, pleeeeeaaaaase?"

"What?" Ebon was damn near flabbergasted. "No we can't keep it. We have a hard enough time keeping our selves. We're not adding some mutt into the mix."

"Please Ebon. I'll take really good care of it."

"Yeah come on Ebon," Talon said, sure that her ways of persuasion could change Ebon's mind. "It's obvious she likes us…plus she's sooo cute. I mean, how can you say no to such a sweet little face?" She squeezed the puppy's face with her fingers until it looked near like a hamster because of its fur being pushed forward.

"No we ain't keepin' it. What have I said before about animals?"

"But…" Shiv insisted.

"No buts. The dog leaves…now."

"Oh come on," Talon said. "It's just a poor little defenseless baby."

"Yeah I'm surprised it's still alive at this age," Ferret commented. "What with the weather and everything."

"And you know how Shiv got last time you got rid of his pet," Hotstreak put in.

Ebon barely acknowledged the time he had gotten rid of Shiv's last pet, a cat called Kringle because Shiv had found it just after Christmas last year. "I said no."

All bang babies aside from Ebon and Kangor sighed and murmured and looked down at the floor. Shiv looked damn near heartbroken as he held the happy puppy against his chest, and still showed his pouty lip.

"It's too cold for her out there," the purple haired meta-human muttered as he nuzzled the puppy's head. "And she's so happy here. Look at her."

"Come on Ebon," Talon said. "Just for tonight?"

"Just to keep Shiv just a tiny bit sane," Hotstreak told him. "If that's even possible…" he took a glance at the other meta-human holding the puppy.

"Would it kill ya mon," said Kangor, still laying back on the couch, looking up at the shadow man with a raised eyebrow. "For one night?"

"What's the worst that could happen?" Talon asked.

"Yeah, really," Shiv said.

"Fine alright!" Ebon growled. "It can stay." He then pointed a finger at Talon. "But just for tonight." He then brought his finger over to Shiv to make sure the other understood him. Shiv nodded with a smile of glee plastered on his face as he swung the puppy around in a circle, happy to have at least just this night with it.

"Yay!" was all he had to say.

"We all good then?" Ebon asked, looking at each of the bang babies in the room. All others nodded and with a "alright" Ebon turned to get back to his solitude of a bed within the train, and Kangor just rested his head on the arm of the couch and looked over at Ferret, who waved a good night before patting the puppy on the head for one last time. He then returned to the warm comfort of Mexican fleece comfortors.

Talon and Shiv played with the puppy for another few minutes, feeding it more small snacks and then giving it a trickle of bottled water. Talon sighed as she pet the puppy behind her ears, and was rewarded with a paw on her arm and a tongue sticking out. "I suppose we should get back to sleep, huh?" she eyed Shiv who only giggled at the puppy's obsessive need for attention. "Go back to bed." She rolled over to see that Hotstreak had long ago embraced the feeling of sleep and smiled before she too joined him in slumber.

Shiv crawled over to own bed set up and the puppy followed after, eager to be with its newfound master, not knowing this would be their first and last night together. "Come on puppy," Shiv said to it, pulling it under the covers with him. "You get to sleep with me." The puppy, in response yipped and after seeing Shiv yawn, yawned itself and snuggled in next to him, moaning a puppy moan. Shiv giggled and snuggled with the puppy, falling asleep fast.

XXX

This chapter used to be longer, but just wait for the next one. Hehe, and we'll see what happens.

Mexican fleece blankets are soooooo awesome. Wait…are they fleece? I don't know but…they are still soooooo awesome.


	2. Snow Dancer

Finally chapter two. I think I have too much to write. Lol. Anyways, the breed of the dog is most likely going to be a white German Shepard. Thank you for your awesome reviews. I hope I get some more. Well, here you go.

XXX

The Wonders of Snow

Chapter two

Snow Dancer

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"What do we name her?" Talon asked, petting the lump of white fluff on her lap.

Yes, Ebon had let the dog stay. And he regretted why. Why did he let it stay? Because after nearly an hour of pointless arguing with Shiv, not to mention the rest of the Breed, he had finally gotten hold of the puppy, and within seconds had transported himself half way across the city, where he was sure Shiv wouldn't find the damned thing. But…here comes the embarrassing part: that puppy gave him the sweetest, most innocent look with those big blue eyes and demanded he play with her. And, after licking at his nose, all Ebon could do was stare at the sky and wonder, why, why, why?

And thus, the newest member of the Meta-Breed was brought in, but an argument of what to name her was brought out.

"I like Snowball," Shiv insisted, totally stoked that he could keep the puppy.

"That's such a wimpy name," Hotstreak retorted.

"Didn't you have a Pekinese named Snowball?" A smirking Ferret put in towards the redhead.

Pushing away a blush before it could form, Hotstreak answered, "Yeah, but that thing was pimp. No one could come near me when he was around."

"Still named Snowball," Ferret remarked with a raised eyebrow.

Hotstreak just glared at the horse faced meta-human, before turning back to Talon and the puppy.

"Why not Snowflake?" Talon said. "It's a pretty name, and she's such a pretty dog." And she illustrated this by giving it a small peck on the head, regretting it when the pooch whipped around and returned her own kiss, this one more slobbery and smelly.

"Naw, Ebon had a dog named Snowflake," Shiv said.

Hotstreak could only scoff. "Oh, shit. You had a dog named Snowflake?" He turned to Ebon who was brooding off at a table in the corner, still wondering why, why, why. And therefore, couldn't help but ignore the pyro.

"It was a freaking giant ass Great Pyrenees," Shiv said, accentuating Ebon's past childhood dog with his arms. "Like this huge. When I first saw it, I thought it was a freakin' polar bear!"

Ferret raised both eyebrows. "That's big."

"Hey, do you think this is a Pyrenees? It's fluffy enough."

"How the hell would I know?"

"Come on your family bred dogs."

Ferret was nearly flabbergasted. "No we didn't. My dad had a freakin' wolf mix as a companion animal."

"Yeah but didn't you get another dog and they had babies?"

"So?"

"So you kept them. You bred dogs."

"I…son of a—Still how would I know?"

"You did have like thirty different dogs after that," Hotstreak told him, shaking his head at the thought of taking care of so many animals.

"Even so," Ferret said, turning to look at the fluffy lump, who had had enough of Talon's lap, and decided it would migrate over to Kangor's on the other end of the couch. Said Kangor was listing to some reggae from a set of head phones, which the puppy decided to investigate with a few sniffs. Intrigued, Kangor removed his head phones and placed them on the puppies head. The others figured it would shake or bat them off, but instead something else happened. Headphones still in place, the wire being long enough for the puppy to get to the floor—it was rather surprised, never having worn such a strange device—she tilted her head, wondering what this strange sound was. Confused, she looked up at Kangor, expecting him to help her. Instead, with a smirk, he bobbed his shoulders this way and that. The puppy watched this strange human with curiosity, and then, as another song came on, this one a little more upbeat, the puppy, excited at this new rhythm, stood up on her hind legs and jumped.

The others watched in amusement at this jumping dancing puppy. Tongue hanging out and tail wagging. Then, Kangor chuckled. "How's bout, Dancer?"

Shiv smiled and clapped his hands. And then Ferret, recalling the previous names they had thought of, and added, " Why not Snow Dancer?"

The puppy had gone too far from the CD player and thus the headphones pulled off, followed by the cutest look of confusion and a 'where the hell's the music' expression, Shiv piped up, "Snow Dancer!" The puppy's ears perked his way. "Come here girl." He held out his arms and the puppy came crashing into them. Happy with a home, a family, and a name. But the greatest thing she discovered while here, was music. Why not Snow Dancer? Why the hell not?

XXX

Sorry it took so long. Using my mom's daycare computer and its slow as hell and sometimes the internet decides its not gonna work. And the space bar is shitty and lazy so sometimes that doesn't work either. I am having trouble with Ice, but hopefully I can get it down. Hopefully. Along with Secrets and what not.


	3. MetaHuman's Best Friend

A/N: There is absolutely no logical excuse as to why I have not continued any of my stories on here. I know how they go. I know how they end. I know what I should be writing…for the most part. The only thing I can think of, besides working, having a kid, and worrying about money and having fun, is that…90% of what I have ever written has been whilst either intoxicated or under the influence of a certain green herb. Since having a child I do not do much of either. Close to never. I never realized how challenging it can be to write sober until I actually did it. But I feel drinking loads of Dr. Pepper and staying up till four in the morning make up for the long nights of drinking back when I was updating these damned things.

Anyways, there will be about two or three more chapters to this thing. Snow Dancer just has to do two more things I think before the ending. It is a sort of sad ending I guess, not a horrible sad ending, just a 'I think I need a hug' ending.

Anyways again. I'm not sure how much of Static Shock fannage there is going on anymore but I still enjoy writing the fictions for it. So I'm not sure if I know what to expect from this update. Either there will be no reviews, or very few, or maybe a lot. Idk dude.

Also. I am for sure continuing Ice, though it will be going through a major rewrite. I've switched up some things, added one new character that I came up with over the past few years. Nothing uberly major whilst rewriting. Just some editing and removing of unneeded ramblings. And like I said, switching things up. I felt I got lazy during the last couple chapters. Then, I can start on the sequal. But…like I said. I don't know how the fannage is anymore for Static Shock and most of my inspiration to continue come from reviews. Wow, these are long author notes. Hmm….I think maybe I should stop.

XXX

The Wonders of Snow

Chapter 3

Meta-human's Best Friend

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"I'd say she's excelling," Talon remarked as Snow Dancer brought her the stuffed orange giraffe-a toy she had grown quite fond of after Shiv had brought it to her a few days after her rescue-shaking it this way and that before letting the feathered woman take it from her mouth. Over the months Snow Dancer had grown well and the members of the meta-breed thought it a good idea to make her as useful a member of the team as possible. Ferret suggested tracking while Ebon insisted on fighting. Kangor had mentioned that her being a German Sheppard she would be great at both. Tracking came easily to the snow white Sheppard, especially with Ferret's guidance, his powers granting him abilities that would make even drug dogs jealous. Attacking and defense were a bit more of a challenge, considering Snow Dancer's cheerful and friendly nature, but in a few short months after her puppy hood-granted she was barely a year old-she proved herself in taking down enemies of the Breed.

"I'd say," Ferret said, petting the dog's head. "I hid it good this time. She musta found a way to get on top the train."

"Well she is pretty smart. Smarter than any dog I've known."

"That's cuz she's the smartest dog in the world!" Shiv exclaimed as he came sauntering down the steps, a brown bag in his hands and caused the young dog to leap with joy into his arms and start licking his face. The meta-human kissed her nose and after a few more licks to his face, she jumped from his arms and danced in circles, awaiting a treat or more attention, two things she was sure to get from Shiv whenever he returned to the subway. "Whose a smart girl, huh? Whose a smart little doggy?" Snow Dancer barked in anticipation and stood up on her hind legs, waving her paws to Shiv before settling herself down into a begging position. "I got a present for you."

"Ugh, what is it this time?" Talon groaned. "Another toy? She's got dozens already." At the word toy, Snow trotted over to where Talon stood and took her orange giraffe from the woman's hand and brought it back to Shiv, expecting him to play.

"Even better!" Shiv pulled a bright green belt from the bag. Well, it used to be a belt, with metal studs. Shiv had shortened the belt and removed many studs from it, making an attempt for it to say Snow Dancer on it. It worked for the most part, though one had to really look to read it. "I got her a collar with her name on it. Oh, and some more toys." With that, he dumped out the bag of bones, squeaky toys, and treats. Snow was so excited to see such goodies before her she didn't know what to do with herself. She grabbed a bone, dropped it, then grabbed a squeaky toy in the shape of a mail man. Twenty seconds of this and she grabbed a squeaky plushy duck, shook it while growling, tossed it, and nudged at the bag of treats with her nose and then sniffed the man made collar in Shiv's hand.

Talon sighed in agitation and rubbed at her eyes with thumb and index finger while Ferret shook his head. "You're spoiling her. How's she gonna raid a store if she gets sidetracked by toys and treats."

"Oh yeah, we need more dog food." With that, Shiv knelt down next to the excited Sheppard and worked to fix the belt-collar around her neck. After doing so, he admired her. "Green is soooo you're color, Snow," he said with a gleeful smile and hugged the dog to his chest. Snow Dancer licked at his ear then insisted he give her a treat, which he happily did, asking her to do a trick. She spun around in several circles before falling down onto her back, tail ceasing to wag and tongue stuck out unmoving. "Good girl!" And she was back on her feet and enjoying her steak flavored treat.

"Sheesh feels like we just go dog food yesterday," Ferret mumbled, sitting down on the arm of the worn couch, one knee bent up. Dog food seemed to be the most of what they stole recently. Granted some of the Breed would share their food with Snow Dancer, but they couldn't share all their rations and so it was best she have her made for dogs essentials.

"She's a growing girl. And she needs her vitamins and proteins."

"So I guess you're off to the store?" Talon grumbled and folded her arms. "Why didn't you pick up dog food when you got the rest of that stuff?" She waved a winged arm at the pile of doggie goodness, thinking to herself that Shiv was, indeed, spoiling the pup.

"The one I went to was out of Beniful. And that's the only dog food I feed her." Shiv slumped with a pout. "But I also can't go back to the store cuz Ebon wants me to go with him and Kangor." Shiv continued to pout, obviously unhappy about doing whatever it was Ebon had insisted he do.

"What's he want you to do?" Ferret asked. "Slice up some bank vault, cuz, ya know, that worked so well in the past." With that he snickered.

"Probably!" Shiv exasperated, throwing his arms in the air and back down to slap at his sides. "Or we have to threaten somebody or kidnap that blonde kid again, which, by the way, is getting very old. I mean we did it a hundred times!"

"You did it once," Ferret pointed out, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever. Either way, he won't let me bring Snow cuz she's not 'fight material yet'," he said, accentuating the quote with two fingers of each hand. He shook his head, earrings dancing against his cheeks. "I mean. She can at least 'watch 'em'." 'Watch 'em' had been a code phrase burned into Snow Dancer's brain, meaning to watch and guard any person or persons from interfering with the Meta-Breeds affairs during a heist. Snow Dancer's ears perked up at the phrase and she looked around, in search of the people she was supposed to watch and possibly threaten with a growl and bite, but after finding there were no such persons within the subway, she took to nawing on a bone.

"Ok," Talon said. "So who's going to go to the store then?" She for one, was not going to go. Her looks, for the most part, would definitely scare any clerk out of selling her products, she thought. Not to mention her reputation.

Shiv eyed Ferret with pleading brown eyes, clasping his hands together under his chin and pouting.

Ferret was damn near flabbergasted. He searched the area around him, in hopes of finding some other being that Shiv might be eye-balling with sad puppy eyes. Unfortunately, he found no such being other than himself. "What! Why me?"

"Cuz you're reputation isn't as bad as most meta-humans," Shiv said in his pouty-pleading tone. "I mean, the worst they can do is kick you out."

Ferret shook his head and rubbed his clawed fingers over his face, well, muzzle, and sighed. "Yeah, I know I'm just a petty thief but why don't you get Hotstreak to do it? I'm not so certain I can just walk into the nearest grocery store and just _buy_ dog food." He looked at Shiv with regretful and unsure eyes. Surely the other meta-human would understand Ferret's people phobia, and the fact that his looks just might-even without a horrible criminal reputation-end in him not acquiring any food for Snow Dancer.

"I don't know where he is! You know him. He just comes and goes as he pleases. He's not exactly an actual member."

"Yeah well, neither am I. So I don't really see why I should be responsible for _your_ dog."

"Ahem," Shiv was a tad peeved by Ferret's words. "She's _your_ dog too. She's all of ours. As I recall _you_ were the one who gave her her name. Oh and _you_ were the one who taught her how to track. Oh yeah, and _you_ were the one who took her to get her shots so," with this he stuck out his tongue and crossed his arms.

Ferret felt defeated. It was true. Snow Dancer claimed no one person of this little oddball group of meta-humans. As far as she was concerned, they were all her care-takers, playmates, and family. She was just as likely to pounce on Ebon when he came into the subway as she was Shiv. This, Ebon was not overly fond of, but he would easily shrug it off after evading her by seeping into the nearest wall, causing quite the sore nose for Snow Dancer when she would leap into the air into a supposed family member.

"I don't think you have a choice," Talon murmured, and took to walking towards the restrooms of the subway, the thoughts she had earlier of her looks and public places bringing back bad memories and the need to be elsewhere, alone. Snow Dancer watched the woman leave and tilted her head, as if in wonder as to why she was leaving and quickly got up to follow her.

Ferret could only sigh in defeat, scratch his head, and mention to Shiv that if he wanted him to _buy_ the dog food, he would need the money. The brown-haired meta-human was taken completely off guard though when Shiv-with miraculous speed-ran towards him and embraced him in a lung crushing hug. As Ferret tried his best to breathe and push the other man off of him, Shiv offered him an array of 'thank you', 'I owe you's', and 'you're the greatest friend in the worlds'. This, although not surprising to Ferret, was still a bit odd. Even though it was coming from Shiv, it still felt a tad off to be called 'the greatest friend in the world', considering Ferret was more or less an anti-social moth compared to Shiv's social butterfly-ness. Nevertheless, he offered a "don't mention it."

He was a tad surprised he could get those words out what with Shiv's arms crushing his lungs and nearly breaking his ribs. Ok, maybe that would be an exaggeration, but Ferret was rarely hugged so, he could think his ribs were shattering and his lungs were collapsing if he wanted to.

Shiv finally pulled away with a huge smile plastered on his face. "Thanks again dude," he said and shoved a hand into a pocket, producing a wad of crumpled up dollar bills, a twenty and some fives. "That should be enough. Just go to the store down on sixteenth and Lincoln. They're usually pretty nice people there. I mean, I saw a guy with a tail go in there so, they shouldn't have a problem with you just buying dog food." Ferret nodded somberly. "Thanks again, uh, again." And he once again hugged Ferret with another death grip and bounded out of the subway station.

The brunette let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, watching the other meta-human bound away. "The things I do for this family." As Ferret grabbed his black hoodie off the back of the couch and headed towards the exit he stopped in his tracks and with furrowed eyebrows, wondered what on earth he was thinking saying family. He shrugged the matter off until a later date and continued on his way.

XXX

Talon _was _thinking about family. About her family. From years ago. Before she turned into "this," she said aloud at the end of her thoughts, frowning into the cracked mirror that hung above a broken-literally a piece was missing off the edge-sink. Her spirits mirrored the walls around her, broken, cracked, peeling, and falling into rubble. The ceiling lights were hanging down like the branches of a dieing willow, the stall doors were off their hinges, and the floor tiles were, for the most part, nothing but crushed rubble. All of the mirrors were either cracked or completely shattered. Talon was at fault for one shattered mirror. The one before her was missing the bottom corner piece from when she had struck it just minutes ago. "Stupid Big Bang," she muttered. "Why me? Why did it have to happen to me?" She covered her face in her taloned hands and stifled a sob.

_I had everything_, she thought. _I had my mom, and my dad, and my brother, and even my dad's stupid parrot_. Talon always hated that parrot. It was an African Gray Parrot that her father had gotten off some old trucker years before she was born. It was an aweful, vulgar thing with the vocabulary of a perverted old man. She missed the lovebirds though, that her mother had gotten to make up for the poor excuse for a pet her father had weaseled into the family. She missed the sounds they made when they sang, the sounds they made when they chipped away at seeds, and the sounds they made when they flew around the house, their wings flapping. _I always wanted to be able to fly like them_, she couldn't keep the sobs in this time. _But not like this._

Click, click, click. Talon turned her head to the noise of Snow Dancer's claws on the tiled floors. The German Shepard tilted her head at Talon, drooped her ears, and made a faint whining sound. Snow Dancer had always been a curious dog, sniffing and investigating everything in her path. It almost got her in trouble quite a few times, once by getting her head stuck in a bicycle, once by getting bit by the rats in the subway, once by upsetting a very large and powerful Bang Baby near a bar; the other's were certain that after curiosity had killed the cat, it was going after canines next. Her curiosity also led her to follow the other members of the breed, when one would leave the room and the others would stay. She always had to investigate, to make sure everything was ok and that her family wasn't tearing apart the minute someone felt the need to go outside.

Talon sighed at the dog. "Go away Snow," she mumbled, closing her eyes and turning back around only to open them unto her cracked reflection once again. She sighed for herself this time. An empty feeling arose in her, an empty feeling she knew all too well. This was why she liked to keep herself busy, whether it be with cleaning up around their hideout, or reading a book, or settling disputes among the other members, or even painting Snow Dancer's claws, which, for the record, the Shepard had no qualms about. But having nothing better to do at the moment sunk Talon into a depression and she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and become nonexistent…and just dream of her old life.

She remembered how her and her mother would cook together and play with the lovebirds, and how her father would take her to the local hangar so she could pretend to fly while he clinkered around working on and fixing airplanes. She remembered her brother who, though he was mixed up with the wrong set of people, was always there for her, watching out for her, and offering her a place of comfort and solace. The tickling of a tear at the corner of her eye brought her back to the present and she wiped it away. Why did her brother have to be there, that night? Why did she have to follow him there? They both could have been spared the Big Bang and he wouldn't have died and she wouldn't have turned into…'_this'._ And with a whoosh of sudden anger she slammed her talons into the mirror before her, slumping down onto the floor with the broken glass.

Snow Dancer whimpered and started forwards. "I said go away Snow!" Talon snapped as she huddled herself against the grungy wall, hiding her face in her arms.

"Snow, lets go!" It was Ferret's voice, calling the white dog. Snow Dancer's ears pricked up and she looked towards the entrance to the restrooms and back to Talon, a saddened dog face upon her. She then trotted from the restrooms and over towards the old couch that housed her favorite giraffe toy.

"Come on Snow, let's go," Ferret repeated, waving an arm for her to follow him. Snow only looked at him, grabbed her giraffe, and trotted back to the restrooms. Ferret sighed, a bit aggravated at Snow's disobedience. "What are you doing?"

Snow Dancer cautiously reentered the restrooms, and settled her bright blue eyes on the orange figure plastered to the wall in a corner. She gave a little whine as if to signal the woman that she was entering and started over towards Talon.

Talon's face was hidden by her arms wrapped around her knees, and her body shook with small sobs. "Get, Snow!" she growled, but Snow Dancer was undeterred and continued on until she was right in front of the weeping Talon, orange stuffed giraffe still in place in between her jaws. Talon looked up, ready to lash at the dog, but, as always, Snow Dancer's gentle demeanor and innocent blue eyes stopped her from doing anything rash. Instead, she watched as the Shepard bent her head and dropped her toy-her _favorite_ toy-into her lap. Snow Dancer then looked up, a doggy smile showing and Talon wiped away the tears with her palms and picked up the toy, looking at it.

It was a dingy, dirty thing, with rips and tears that surprisingly did not allow most of the stuffing to leak out. The purple spots it adorned were turning brown with frequent use and less frequent washings. It was missing an eye and a nostril and the fabric was hardened with dirt and dog slobber.

She looked back at Snow Dancer, expecting the dog had wanted to play, but the snow white animal just sat there, looking at Talon, not in an expected to play sort of way, but an expected to get some sort of happy reaction from Talon sort of way.

Talon watched the dog's ears slightly perk and watched her tail slightly wag. Snow Dancer was just a dog, she had thought to herself since they found the pup under the train. Just a normal dog. Granted she was a white German Shepard with blue eyes but she was no different from any other dog. Granted she was very smart, but almost any dog could be trained to do this and that when worked with with time and patience. But she was just a normal dog. By right of the meta-breed she shouldn't have even been here. She had no special powers, no super bark or laser vision. If she were human, she would be just a normal human. No better or worse than anyone else.

But normal humans shunned Talon and her kind, for the most part banning them from society and condemning them to a life of homelessness and hunger and loneliness.

_But Snow Dancer wouldn't_, thought Talon, _if she were a normal human being._ To Snow Dancer, a feathered woman with wings or a man of shadows who could create portals and seep into walls were as normal as it got. She did not differentiate human from meta-human. She did not judge looks.

Talon ran a hand over the worn out toy in her lap and smiled at Snow Dancer, whose ears shot up and tail started wagging rapidly. Snow brought her head over the womans shoulder as Talon wrapped her arms around the canine's neck. Snow Dancer always had a way of wriggling herself into Talon's heart, and for that, Talon was thankful. And after rising to her feet, Talon ruffled the dog's furry neck and sent her on her way to Ferret who was half tempted to follow the dog into the restrooms but decided it best to wait and see what Snow Dancer's outcome would be.

"Sheesh, what happened in there," Ferret asked, eager now that he was able to leave without having to worry about the dog.

"Nothing," Talon said, shaking her head and rubbing her arms. "She just brought me her toy." Talon smiled and hugged the grungy toy to her chest, suddenly not caring for its coarse fabric or dog breath stench.

"Uh…ok?" Ferret raised an eyebrow at Talon who only returned a smile. Ferret figured Talon was having another 'moment' and Snow had gone to check to see if the woman was dieing or not. For that though, he was thankful, because otherwise Talon would have probably stayed in her self-pitying mood for a lot longer than the few minutes she already had. He patted Snow Dancer's head, smiled at Talon, and made his way from the subway with the Sheppard in tow. He stopped himself before he made it to the stairs. "She's a good dog, huh?"

"Hard to find one like her," Talon said with a chuckle, finally abandoning the dog's toy back onto the couch.

"She can be a bit of a pain though. What with her curiosity and all. I swear one of these days it's gonna get her into big trouble."

"Yes. But she's family." And Talon walked away from Ferret and Snow Dancer to search for a book she had recently gotten a hold of. It held her interest, which was all that mattered.

Ferret left the subway station with Snow and only faintly brought up the 'family' thought in his mind.

XXX

Well, I was trying to get across that Snow Dancer thought of everyone as family as overly dramatically as I could but I think I only did a novice job on it. I would like to continue with this story and finish up ice so I can start on it's sequel Rain. I'll keep the first chapter as is, but the rest is all going to be edited and unwanted stuff shall be removed. Such as stuff I pulled out of my ass while I wrote sober chapters. I should get some herb. Maybe that will help with my writing. What can I say, kid? Some of the best stuff I've written have been whilst, well, under the influence.

Secrets will also be majorly rewritten. I am taking the Ocs out completely. Not sure if Button is considered an OC since I am basing him off of an actual extra but…oh well, he's staying.

This story's next chapter shall be introducing an old member of Hotstreak's little click from back in the day. And after that I will even put a little Virgil and Richie in here…and no sorry they will not be gay. At least not with each other. Well…Virgil won't be gay…eh. I'm tired of talking. You'll see when the chapter comes around. It should rear it's ugly head after chapter 4. ;) Peace. I'm dippin'.


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